SHINING MEAD

Poetry for Aristocrats of the SoulIn this, his third poetry book, Eirik Westcoat ventures into mythic worlds beyond his earlier works on heathen religion (Viking Poetry for Heathen Rites) and rune magic (Eagle’s Mead). Yet these are still poems where the gods live, and Óðrœrir, the Mead of Poetry, is a real, vivifying force that flows through both words and worlds. All of his poems are much more personal this time. They include his reflections on the mission for traditional poetry in today’s world, living abroad for grad school, politics, esotericism, rune work, spirituality, trees, depression, love, sex, and the infamous sun wheel design from Wewelsburg Castle. This is poetry with a message and an orientation toward transcendence: a Traditionalist perspective from seeking the Mysteries and the Grail. And all of it is in modern English versions of traditional Old English and Old Norse alliterative meters.